[1999-10-27, 06:05-06:12] deHTLMified Suzanne Vega: Solitude Standing [CD 395136-2] (c)1987 A&M Records Inc. 1. Tom's Diner (A capella) 2. Luka 3. Ironbound/Fancy Poultry 4. In the Eye 5. Night Vision 6. Solitude Standing 7. Calypso 8. Language 9. Gypsy 10. Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song) 11. Tom's Diner (Reprise) 1. Tom's Diner I am sitting In the morning At the diner On the corner I am waiting At the counter For the man To pour the coffee And he fills it Only halfway And before I even argue He is looking Out the window At somebody Coming in "It is always Nice to see you" Says the man Behind the counter To the woman Who has come in She is shaking Her umbrella And I look The other way As they are kissing Their hellos I'm pretending Not to see them Instead I pour the milk I open Up the paper There's a story Of an actor Who had died While he was drinking It was no one I had heard of And I'm turning To the horoscope And looking For the funnies When I'm feeling Someone watching me And so I raise my head There's a woman On the outside Looking inside Does she see me? No she does not Really see me Cause she sees Her own reflection And I'm trying Not to notice That she's hitching Up her skirt And while she's Straightening her stockings Her hair Is getting wet Oh, this rain It will continue Through the morning As I'm listening To the bells Of the cathedral I am thinking Of your voice... And of the midnight picnic Once upon a time Before the rain began... I finish up my coffee It's time to catch the train 2. Luka My name is Luka I live on the second floor I live upstairs from you Yes I think you've seen me before If you hear something late at night Some kind of trouble. some kind of fight Just don't ask me what it was Just don't ask me what it was Just don't ask me what it was I think it's because I'm clumsy I try not to talk too loud Maybe it's because I'm crazy I try not to act too proud They only hit until you cry And after that you don't ask why You just don't argue anymore You just don't argue anymore You just don't argue anymore Yes I think I'm okay I walked into the door again Well, if you ask that's what I'll say And it's not your business anyway I guess I'd like to be alone With nothing broken, nothing thrown Just don't ask me how I am Just don't ask me how I am Just don't ask me how I am 3. Ironbound/Fancy Poultry In the ironbound section near Avenue L where the Portuguese women come to see what you sell the clouds so low the morning so slow as the wires cut through the sky The beams and bridges cut the light on the ground into little triangles and the rails run round through the rust and the heat the light and sweet coffee color of her skin Bound up in wire and fate watching her walk him up to the gate in front of the ironbound school yard. Kids will grow like weeds on a fence She says they look for the light they try to make sense. They come up through the cracks Like grass on the tracks She touches him goodbye. Steps off the curb and into the street the blood and feathers near her feet into the ironbound market In the ironbound section near Avenue L where the Portuguese women come to see what you sell the clouds so low the morning so slow as the wires cut through the sky She stops at the stall fingers the ring opens her purse feels a longing away from the ironbound border "Fancy poulty parts sold here. Breasts and thighs and hearts. Backs are cheap and wings are nearly free. Nearly free" 4. In The Eye If you were to kill me now right here I would still look you in the eye And I would burn myself into your memory as long as you were still alive I would live inside of you I'd make you wear me like a scar And I would burn myself into your memory and run through everything you are I would not run I would not turn I would not hide I would not run I would not turn I would not hide In the eye If you were to kill me now right here I would still look you in the eye And I would burn myself into your memory as long as you were still alive I would not run I would not turn I would not hide I would not run I would not turn I would not hide In the eye Look me in the eye 5. Night Vision By day give thanks By night beware Half the world in sweetness The other in fear When the darkness takes you With her hand across your face Don't give in too quickly Find the thing she's erased Find the line, find the shape Through the grain Find the outline, things will Tell you their name The table. the guitar The empty glass All will blend together when Daylight has passed Find the line, find the shape Through the grain Find the outline, things will Tell you their name Now I watch you falling into sleep Watch your fist curl against the sheet Watch your lips fall open and your eyes dim In blind faith I would shelter you Keep you in light But I can only teach you Night vision Night vision Night vision 6. Solitude Standing Solitude stands by the window She turns her head as I walk in the room I can see by her eyes she's been waiting Standing in the slant of the late afternoon And she turns to me with her hand extended Her palm is split with a flower with a flame Solitude stands in the doorway And I'm struck once again by her black silhouette By her long cool stare and her silence I suddenly remember each time we've met And she turns to me with her hand extended Her palm is split with a flower with a flame And she says "I've come to set a twisted thing straight" And she says "I've come to lighten this dark heart" And she takes my wrist, I feel her imprint of fear And I say "I've never thought of finding you here" I turn to the crowd as they're watching They're sitting all together in the dark in the warm I wanted to be in there among them I see how their eyes are gathered into one And then she turns to me with her hand extended Her palm is split with a flower with a flame And she says "I've come to set a twisted thing straight" And she says"l've come to lighten this dark heart" And she takes my wrist, I feel her imprint of fear And I say "I've never thought of finding you here" Solitude stands in the doorway And I'm struck once again by her black silhouette By her long cool stare and her silence I suddenly remember each time we've met And she turns to me with her hand extended Her palm is split with a flower with a flame 7. Calypso My name is Calypso And I have lived alone I live on an island And I waken to the dawn A long time ago I watched him struggle with the sea I knew that he was drowning And I brought him into me Now today Come morning light He sails away After one last night I let him go. My name is Calypso My garden overflows Thick and wild and hidden Is the sweetness there that grows My hair it blows long As I sing into the wind My name is Calypso And I have lived alone I live on an island I tell of nights Where I could taste the salt on his skin Salt of the waves And of tears And though he,pulled away I kept him here for years I let him go My name is Calypso I have let him go In the dawn he sails away To be gone forever more And the waves will take him in again But he'll know their ways now I will stand upon the shore With a clean heart And my song in the wind The sand will sting my feet And the sky will burn It's a lonely time ahead I do not ask him to return I let him go I let him go 9. Language If language were liquid It would be rushing in Instead here we are In a silence more eloquent Than any word could ever be These words are too solid They don't move fast enough To catch the blur in the brain That flies by and is gone Gone Gone Gone I'd like to meet you In a timeless, placeless place Somewhere out of context And beyond all consequences Let's go back to the building (Words are too solid) On Little West Twelfth It is not far away (They don't move fast enough) And the river is there And the sun and the spaces Are all laying low (To catch the blur in the brain) And we'll sit in the silence (That flies by and is) That comes rushing in and is Gone (Gone) I won't use words again They don't mean what I meant They don't say what I said They're just the crust of the meaning With realms underneath Never touched Never stirred Never even moved through If language were liquid It would be rushing in Instead here we are In a silence more eloquent Than any word could ever be And is gone Gone Gone And is gone 10. Gypsy You come from far away With pictures in your eyes Of coffeeshops and morning streets In the blue and silent sunrise But night is the cathedral Where we recognized the sign We strangers know each other now As part of the whole design Oh, hold me like a baby That will not fall asleep Curl me up inside you And let me hear you through the heat You are the jester of this courtyard With a smile like a girl's Distracted by the women With the dimples and the curls By the pretty and the mischievous By the timid and the blessed By the blowing skirts of ladies Who promise to gather you to their breast Oh, hold me like a baby... You have hands of raining water And that earring in your ear The wisdom on your face Denies the number of your years With the fingers of the potter And the laughing tale of the fool The arranger of disorder With your strange and simple rules Yes now I've met me another spinner Of strange and gauzy threads With a long and slender body And a bump upon the head Oh, hold me like a baby... With a long and slender body And the sweetest softest hands And we'll blow away forever soon And go on to different lands And please do not ever look for me But with me you will stay And you will hear yourself in song Blowing by one day Oh, hold me like a baby... 11. Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song) I came out of the darkness Holding one thing A small white wooden horse I'd been holding inside And when I'm dead If you could tell them this That what was wood became alive What was wood became alive In the night the walls disappeared In the day they returned "I want to be a rider like my father" Were the only words I could say And when I'm dead If you could tell them this That what was wood became alive What was wood became alive Alive And I fell under A moving piece of sun Freedom I came out of the darkness Holding one thing I know I have a power I am afraid I may be killed But when I'm dead If you could tell them this That what was wood became alive What was wood became alive Alive [[eof]]